Expendable fibre side filler for railroad cars



R. VARGEN 3,424,108

Jan. 2s, 1969 EXPENDABLE FIBRE SIDE FILLER PGR RAILROAD CARS Filed Nov. 26, 1965 ofl? Sheet /f BY 1m28, 1969 L MARGEN 3,424,108

EXPENDABLE' FIBRE SIDE FILLER FOR RAILROADl CARS vFiled Nov. 26. 1965 Sheet 2 of 2 FIGLI' 6' United States Patent O 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An expendable -fibre side filler for railroad cars or truck walls to prevent damage to the cargo caused by shifting of the cargo during transit, comprised of a filler element which is slotted to match a slotted retaining member. These members being folded and engaging each other to fill the void areas.

Several devices are being used or have been tested to restrain lateral shifting of cases during transportation in a rail car.

One such device is adjustable plywood side fillers that are made part of the car equipment. This type basically consists of plywood sheets that are approximately 391/2 inches wide and 97 inches high. Each plywood sheet is fastened to the side of the car by supports made of metal or wood and can be extended from the side wall to reduce the interior width of the car.

In another such type of device, 54 inches by 108 inch plywood sheets are placed against but not fastened to metal side sway brackets or telescope extensions. These brackets and extensions are made adjustable by placing one or more pins through any of a series of small holes. The brackets and extensions are inserted into the belt rails located on each side wall of a damage free type rail car. In loading the car, the units are placed two abreast against one side wall. The side sway brackets or telescope extensions are then inserted into the belt rails and extended. A plywood sheet is then placed between the face of the units and the metal brackets. Metal brackets are required on shipments that exceed a height of 90 inches. This type of lateral load restraining device can only be used in a damage-free (D-F) type car.

The cost of equipping a car with this type of device is quite high and although the maintenance cost of this side filler1is probably low, the railroad fusing the side sway brackets have to follow each shipment to make sure that the brackets are not lost at destination.

Another such device is a 54 inch by 108 inch plywood sheets used in conjunction with wooden spacer blocks. These blocks are either permanently fastened to the plywood or snapped on to the plywood by means of a stainless steel clip. There 4" x 4" x 15" wooden blocks are used to protect a double stack palletized load. This type of device can be used both in D-F and DF-B compartmentalizer cars. In loading a shipment the units are placed tight against one side of a car. The blocks are fastened to the plywood and then the plywood is placed into the void along the opposite wall.

Another type lateral load restraining device that has been tested is the fibre T filler. This device is utilized by loading units against each side wall and leaving a void down the center of the car. 'Ihe fibre T -iller is placed in the center void and suspended fro'm the top units.

Repeated transportation tests indicated, however, that this non-adjustable filler was unsatisfactory because (l) the filler had a tendency to become displaced during transit, (2) the cases beneath the filler tended to shift laterally and (3) the end inserts sometimes fell out of 3,424,108 Patented Jan. 28, 1969 the filler thereby losing the support required for this device.

In comparison to the above mentioned laterally restraining devices, the expandable fibre side `filler that I have developed applies a different principal in preventing cases from shifting laterally during transit. My fibre side filler consists of three pieces of 125 pound corrugated fibre. One piece is used as a facing against the cases and the other two pieces are used as back supports. The facing and back supports are scored to permit a degree fold. The folds on the back supports are slotted 5% inches deep. The folds on the facing are slotted 5% inches deep. The slots on the back supports are then fitted into the slots on the facing piece. Once the back supports are inserted the entire filler (3 pieces) becomes interlocked in such a manner that the back supports provide` a ribbing to the facing. The filler then has sufficient strength to withstand the lateral pressure of the cases.

FIGURE 1 is an isometric projection cut away to show the invention as used in a railroad car.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of the invention taken along lines .2 2 of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 3 is an isometric elevation of the complete Abre side filler.

FIGURES 4 and 5 are illustrations of the component parts of the present invention.

FIGURE `6 is an end elevation of a railroad car showing an alternate use of the present invention.

FIGURE 7 is an isometric elevation showing another form of the present invention.

FIGURE 8 is an exploded isofmetric elevation of the alternate form of the present invention.

FIGURE 9` is a cross-sectional elevation taken from lines 9-9 of FIGURE 7.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, which shows a railroad car 2 containing packing crates 4 which contains canned goods or the like, these packing crates are so constructed that they do not completely fill the car and therefore it is advantageous to supply a side lfiller 6 to prevent shifting of the crates during transit. In FIGURE 1, the fibre is placed between the side of car 2 and the packing crates 4 to prevent lateral shifting.

FIGURE 3 shows the present invention as assembled wherein the invention comprises the filler element 6 which comprises slotted end members 10 and a front member 12. Retaining members 14 which comprise a back member 16 and a side member 1,8 are engageably mounted into end slots 20 in end members 10 of the filler. These retaining members hold the fibre filler in an approximate rectangular relationship between the packing cases 4 and the side walls of the railroad car or truck. Member 22 is provided on the end members 10 to increase or decrease the width of the fibre side fillers and make them adaptable for various applications at lower costs.

By using a different size side member 18 which is a part of the retaining member 14, the filler element 6 can be used interchangeably to obtain various widths. For example, if member 22 is kept in an extended position, the side member 18 port/ion of the retaining member 14 would be a specific Idimension to obtain a maximum width on the filler. If member 22 is folded as shown in FIGURES 3 and '7, a different size side member 18 would be used to reduce the width of the fibre side filler. In the above example, the dimension of the side member 18 is changed to provide the desired width; the dimension of the back member 16 which is also a part of the retaining member 14 is not changed. This eliminates the necessity of providing additional slots 20 in the end members 10. The lfibre side filler is prevented from buckling when cases shift against them by the support provided by the edge of the side member 18 against the side surface of the front member l12 and also by the support provided by slots ICC 3 20 of the side member 18 engaging directly against the slots 20 of the end member 10 of the ller.

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrate the fibre Ifiller in its broken `down or shipping coniguration wherein the end members and flap members are slotted to receive the retaining members. The entire bre ller like the retaining members are constructed in one piece, and the fibre is scored at points 23 and 24 for ease in folding to assemble the filler.

The retaining member, as shown by FIGURE 5, is similarly constructed of one piece of sheet, scored at points 26 and 28 to be folded to form a back member 16 and side members 18. These latter side members are slotted to engage the unslotted portions of the slotted end members 10 0f the bre ller.

FIGURE 6 shows an alternate arrangement wherein the packing crates 4 are placed against the side and end walls of the railroad car `2 and the libre iiller 6 of the present invention is placed between the crates to thus prevent lateral shifting between the crates and the walls of the railroad car or similar vehicle.

FIGURE' 7 shows an alternate form of the invention usable where smaller yfillers are necessary and Iwhere only One retaining member is necessary in the construction.

FIGURE 8 illustrates the assembling of the front rnember 12 and the retaining members 14.

In FIGURE 9, the front member can be expanded by opening flap members 22 and remains a constant size indicated by Z while the retaining members 16 may vary in size as is required by the space to be lled and thus is variable as illustrated by X and Y.

These fillers may be fabricated of double-faced corrugated bre sheet or the like, and full sized llers may be cut in half to make the smaller llers of FIGURES 7, 8 and 9.

I claim:

1. An expendable titiller comprising: a scored filler element having a front member and end members, said end members being slotted to receive a retaining ymember comprising a back member and side members, said side members being slotted to receive the end members of said yfiller element, and said retaining members slideably engaging said filler element in a horizontal relationship to the vertical axis of said ller element, the addition of another scoreline, increasing the depth of the slotting in the end member an-d the side member, thus making it possible to adjust the width of the bre side filler by using a different set of retaining members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,348,483 5/1944 -Lacy et al. 229-14 X 2,709,559 5/1955 Geisler 1108-51 2,711,819 `6/1955 Vander 'Lugt 229-14 X 2,743,010 4/1956 Koester 206-6'2 2,861,681 11/1958 Lane 229-14 3,279,677 10/1966 Wojcik 229-14 DRAYTON E. HOFFMAN, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

